Cybernetic avatars are hybrid interaction robots or digital representations that combine autonomous capabilities with teleoperated control. This study investigates the acceptance of cybernetic avatars in the highly multicultural society of Dubai, with particular emphasis on robotic avatars for customer service. Specifically, we explore how acceptance varies as a function of robot appearance (e.g., android, robotic-looking, cartoonish), deployment settings (e.g., shopping malls, hotels, hospitals), and functional tasks (e.g., providing information, patrolling). To this end, we conducted a large-scale survey with over 1,000 participants. Overall, cybernetic avatars received a high level of acceptance, with physical robot avatars receiving higher acceptance than digital avatars. In terms of appearance, robot avatars with a highly anthropomorphic robotic appearance were the most accepted, followed by cartoonish designs and androids. Animal-like appearances received the lowest level of acceptance. Among the tasks, providing information and guidance was rated as the most valued. Shopping malls, airports, public transport stations, and museums were the settings with the highest acceptance, whereas healthcare-related spaces received lower levels of support. An analysis by community cluster revealed among others that Emirati respondents showed significantly greater acceptance of android appearances compared to the overall sample, while participants from the 'Other Asia' cluster were significantly more accepting of cartoonish appearances. Our study underscores the importance of incorporating citizen feedback into the design and deployment of cybernetic avatars from the early stages to enhance acceptance of this technology in society.

Robot avatars for customer service are gaining traction in Japan. However, their acceptance in other societal contexts remains underexplored, complicating efforts to design robot avatars suitable for diverse cultural environments. To address this, we interviewed key stakeholders in Dubai's service sector to gain insights into their experiences deploying social robots for customer service, as well as their opinions on the most useful tasks and design features that could maximize customer acceptance of robot avatars in Dubai. Providing information and guiding individuals to specific locations were identified as the most valued functions. Regarding appearance, robotic-looking, highly anthropomorphic designs were the most preferred. Ultra-realistic androids and cartoonish-looking robots elicited mixed reactions, while hybrid androids, low-anthropomorphic robotic designs, and animal-looking robots were considered less suitable or discouraged. Additionally, a psycho-sociological analysis revealed that interactions with robot avatars are influenced by their symbolic meaning, context, and affordances. These findings offer pioneering insights into culturally adaptive robot avatar design, addressing a significant research gap and providing actionable guidelines for deploying socially acceptable robots and avatars in multicultural contexts worldwide.

Artificial intelligence is transforming industry in many ways. From task automation to decision making, the way we work and interact with the world. In this article, we will explore how AI is being used in different industries and how it is driving efficiency and productivity. Artificial intelligence is changing the way we work in several ways. First -- AI is being used to automate tasks and processes.

The company's previous demo had involved marching a human out in a robot-like bodysuit, so when Optimus walked slowly around the stage, it was met with delight from the cheering crowd. Despite the show's futuristic framing, robotics experts were mostly underwhelmed by the reveal. Optimus' clunky attempts at something like a dance seemed less advanced than other humanoid robots, such as Honda's ASIMO, which played soccer with former President Barack Obama back in 2014. Tesla engineers boasted that Optimus' hand had as many as 11 degrees of freedom (that's to say, all the ways in which robotic parts can bend). In comparison, a robotic hand designed by a Japanese engineer back in 1963 had 27. What is it about Optimus that makes us feel threatened?

The company's previous demo had involved marching a human out in a robot-like body suit, so when Optimus walked slowly around the stage, it was met with delight from the cheering crowd. Despite the show's futuristic framing, robotics experts were mostly underwhelmed by the reveal. Optimus' clunky attempts at something like a dance seemed less advanced than other humanoid robots, such as Honda's Asimo, which played soccer with former President Barack Obama back in 2014. Tesla engineers boasted that Optimus' hand had as many as 11 degrees of freedom (that's to say, all the ways in which robotic parts can bend). In comparison, a robotic hand designed by a Japanese engineer back in 1963 had 27. What is it about Optimus that makes us feel threatened?

There are now some 120,000 warehouses globally, and another 50,000 are likely to be added before 2025. Over the next few years, more robots will be deployed into these warehouses--the logistics market--than in all other application categories combined, including farming, medicine, and home use. Just as the 1960s saw the mechanization of industry, with an accompanying boom in productivity and prosperity, the 2020s will be the dawn of the robotification of services. Industrial robots came into use in 1961 when General Motors (G.M.) installed a simple robotic arm on its New Jersey production line. The machine had been invented by Unimation, a company founded by the father of robotics, Joseph Engelberger--a self-professed Isaac Asimov enthusiast.

Tianjin, China – At a factory in China's north, workers are busy testing an automated vehicle designed to move bulky items around industrial spaces, one of a new generation of robots Beijing wants to shift the country's manufacturing up the value chain. The robot's Tianjin-based maker has received tax breaks and government-guaranteed loans to build products that modernize China's vast factory sector and advance its technological expertise. "The government is paying great attention to the manufacturing sector and the real economy -- we can feel that," said Ren Zhiyong, general manager of Tianjin Langyu Robot Co. China is backing R&D efforts by high-tech manufacturers like Langyu, driven by an urgent desire to reduce reliance on imported technology and reinforce its dominance as a global factory power, even as it cracks down on other parts of the economy. Beijing's pivot puts the focus on advanced manufacturing, rather than the services sector, to steer the world's second-largest economy past the so-called "middle income trap", where countries lose productivity and stagnate in lower-value economic output.

Robots hold polar extremes in economic narrative and popular imagination. One narrative depicts a looming dystopian future with robots and other forms of automation increasingly replacing human workers, depressing wages (Brynjolfsson and McAfee 2014), feeding inequality, and contributing to further'deaths of despair' (Case and Deaton 2020, Mulligan 2021). In counter-imaginations, robots embody innovative technology spurring productivity and freeing workers from repetitive, strenuous, monotonous work while helping to relieve labour shortages arising from ageing populations. Such demographic challenges are salient particularly in higher-income countries farther along in the demographic transition, such as the OECD nations, where populations in 18 out of the 36 countries are projected to decline by 2055. These nations face rising old-age dependency ratios, declining employment-to-population ratios, and challenges in providing services to the growing number of frail older adults.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to expand its footprint in the enterprise and the economy. That's the word from the AI Index, an annual data update from Stanford University's Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute. The index tracks AI growth across a range of metrics, from papers published to patents granted to employment numbers. In terms of total employment, while AI-related jobs are but a small fraction, the share is rapidly expanding. In the U.S., the share of jobs in AI-related topics increased from 0.26% of total jobs posted in 2010 to 1.32% in October 2019 -- or five-fold growth.

In the not-so-distant future, more robots may be interacting with customers at shopping complexes, serving food at restaurants or cleaning floors at offices in Japan amid a serious labor crunch. A hint of what is to come is visible at the International Robot Exhibition 2019, a major biennial robot trade show that kicked off on Wednesday at Tokyo Big Sight. The event runs until Saturday. Featuring a record 637 firms and organizations, some participants said demand for robotics as helping hands in service sectors is rising to compensate for a shortage of workers. Tokyo-based Omron Social Solutions Co. unveiled a robot capable of performing three tasks: cleaning, security and guiding.